He was an American Psycho. He even dropped 63 pounds as The Machinist. Christian Bale has never been one to play it safe. But in Rescue Dawn, opening July 4, the Welsh-born actor, 33, went beyond the call of duty as Dieter Dengler, a real German-American pilot who was held captive after crashing in Laos during the Vietnam War and who later escaped.

George and Giles Martin are causing a magical mystery stir in The Beatles world, a realm encompassing anyone who has turned on a radio since 1962. The father-and-son production team have not only disturbed a sacred cow, they've drawn and quartered it, dissected it, then regenerated it into LOVE, a seamless, experimental mix of Beatles sounds drawn from the most conservatively controlled master tapes in pop history.

The other lads seemed to have much more exciting stories. As his kindergarten classmates went around the room citing their parents' occupations a firefighter here, a cop there Giles Martin became a tad embarrassed.